The Driller's Wife and Other Kalgoorlie Crime Stories

Gary is a hardworking surface driller, in Kalgoorlie, packing up his rig for a bush stint. He fights with his wife, Sarah, and leaves with tension in the air. On a rare night out, she meets a man and, within a week, her marriage is turned upside down. It is a poignant tale of the emotional cost of endless contract work away from the home, just like in Henry Lawson's The Drover's Wife. More

The Driller's Wife and Other Kalgoorlie Crime Stories are tales of life on the Western Australian Goldfields in the early 1990s. Kalgoorlie then, as it is now, was a place where the very rich lived alongside the dirt poor. Many characters made the town their home including prostitutes, weary coppers, pastoralists, gold stealers, chancers, goes, bikies, cheeky kids, and fencing contractors.As as young reporter, CE Rocchi would observe criminals in court, then sit down alongside them in restaurants.Racism and sexism were rife and a world famous brothel stood openly in a main street. CE Rocchi paints characters vividly and injects a sense of humour when writing these compelling stories of outback life.The stories also reveal some of the downsides to criminal behaviour, especially to children, 'Just a Bit of Fun' and Stretched: The Journey of Sass Smith. While in The Bilby she tackles Goldfields' 'business' practices. Paint for Breakfast is a startling story which focuses on child neglect and Kalgoorlie Boys shows what ugly racism can lead to.

Cate Rocchi, 40, has been a writer/journalist for 20 years. She trained on The Kalgoorlie Miner in Western Australia and her work has appeared in Australia's Mining Monthly and The West Australian in Australia. In London, she worked for Investment Week, International Investment, Hedge Funds Review and Eurohedge while in Hong Kong she her articles have been published in Asian Investor and Playtimes, a children's magazine. Much of her fiction is set in Asia but Australia's outback is also strongly featured. Her punchy style is rapidly gaining notoriety.